Breast cancer is a major public health issue among women in the world. Meanwhile new anticancer treatments struggle more and more to be accepted in the pharmaceutical market and research costs still increase. There is therefore a need to find new treatments and new screening methods to test them more quickly and efficiently. Among natural compounds, an increasing interest has been given to polyphenols as they can take action at the different stages of carcinogenesis, from tumour initiation to metastasis formation, by disturbing multiple cellular signalling pathways...

The preparation of liquisolid systems presents a promising and innovative possibility for enhancing dissolution profiles and improving the bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs. This study aims to evaluate the differences in the properties of liquisolid systems containing combinations of 3 commercially used superdisintegrants (sodium starch glycolate, crospovidone, and croscarmellose sodium). Multiple regression models and contour plots were used to study how the amount and the type of superdisintegrant used affected the quality parameters of liquisolid tablets...

New antidiabetic drugs are being developed today that expand the range of pharmacological intervention, in particular for patients with type 2 diabetes (imeglimin, semaglutide, dulaglutide, FGF 21 analogue). At the same time innovations take place that "better" the well-proven molecules, they offer new application forms we have no experience of diabetology (osmotic pump for exenatide, faster acting insulin aspart). New properties are brought by just the change of concentration (insulin glargine in a concentration of 300 U/ml), unexpected positive results are also brought by new fixed-ratio combinations of antidiabetics (fixed-ratio combination of insulin degludec and liraglutide, fixed-ratio combination of insulin glargine and lixisenatide)...

Development of palatable formulations for pediatric and geriatric patients involves various challenges. However, an innovative development with beneficial characteristics of marketed formulations in a single formulation platform was attempted. The goal of this research was to develop solid oral flexible tablets (OFTs) as a platform for pediatrics and geriatrics as oral delivery is the most convenient and widely used mode of drug administration. For this purpose, a flexible tablet formulation using cetirizine hydrochloride as model stability labile class 1 and 3 drug as per the Biopharmaceutical Classification System was developed...

Eribulin mesylate is a novel, non-taxane, synthetic microtubule inhibitor showing antitumor activity in a wide range of tumors including soft tissue sarcomas (STS). Eribulin has been recently approved for the treatment of metastatic liposarcoma (LPS) patients previously treated with anthracyclines. This work investigated the mechanism of action of this innovative antitubulin agent in well-differentiated/dedifferentiated LPS (ALT/DDLPS) which represents one of the most common adipocytic sarcoma histotypes. A primary culture of ALT/DDLPS from a 54-year-old patient was established...

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is characterized by a progressive destruction of the liver parenchyma and a chronic fibrosis. The current treatment of autoimmune hepatitis is still largely dependent on the administration of corticosteroids and cytostatic drugs. For a long time the development of novel therapeutic strategies has been hampered by a lack of understanding the basic immunopathogenic mechanisms of AIH and the absence of valid animal models. However, in the past decade, knowledge from clinical observations in AIH patients and the development of innovative animal models have led to a situation where critical factors driving the disease have been identified and alternative treatments are being evaluated...

It has been over four decades since the development of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) using a hybridoma cell line was first reported. Since then more than thirty therapeutic antibodies have been marketed, mostly as oncology, autoimmune and inflammatory therapeutics. While antibodies are very efficient, their cost-effectiveness has always been discussed owing to their high costs, accumulating to more than one billion dollars from preclinical development through to market approval. Because of this, therapeutic antibodies are inaccessible to some patients in both developed and developing countries...

The challenge of bringing innovative medicines to patients in combination with intense competition within the pharmaceutical industry have induced companies to develop quality medicines more efficiently and cost-effectively. State-of-the art approaches to advance drug development have never been so urgent. One such approach that has been gaining traction within the industry is the application of modeling and simulation. In this commentary, the benefits of physiologically-based oral absorption (PBOA) modeling and simulation in drug development are highlighted and suggestions for maximizing its impact are provided...

BACKGROUND: Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are regarded as potential platforms for drug delivery. However, their interaction with live organisms must be understood prior to their utilization as drug carriers. The present study reports the anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-tumor effects of GNPs. The biodistribution of GNPs and their effect on various tissues have also been studied. METHODS: GNPs were synthesized through an environmentally friendly route and characterized with TEM and UV-vis...

Leukotriene A4 hydrolase has been identified as an enzyme with dual anti- and pro-inflammatory role, thus, the conversion of leukotriene to leukotriene B4 in the initiation stage of inflammation and the removal of the chemotactic Pro-Gly-Pro tripeptide. These findings make leukotriene A4 hydrolase an attractive drug target: suggesting an innovative approach towards the identification and design of novel class of compounds that can selectively inhibit leukotriene B4 synthesis while sparing the aminopeptidase activity...

Outcomes in patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) have improved dramatically over the last decade. However, novel agents are greatly needed for those who exhibit treatment resistance, in order to minimize lifelong toxicity and to enable combinations that may allow us to achieve the elusive goal of cure. Biological advances have led to the discovery of a large number of potential therapeutic targets and the development of a plethora of novel agents designed to exploit these processes. Possible targets include tumor cell surface markers, key components of intracellular pathways and epigenetic mechanisms, and reactive cells of the microenvironment...

As more and more generic (or biosimilar) drug products become available in the market place, it is a concern whether the approved generic (or biosimilar) drug products are safe and efficacious and hence can be used interchangeably. According to current regulation, most regulatory agencies such as the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicate an approved generic (or biosimilar) drug product can serve as a substitute for the innovative drug product. Bioequivalence (biosimilarity) assessment for regulatory approval among generic copies (or biosimilars) of the innovative drug product are not required...

The mouse isolated perfused kidney (MIPK) is a technique for keeping a mouse kidney under ex vivo conditions perfused and functional for 1 hr. This is a prerequisite for studying the physiology of the isolated organ and for many innovative applications that may be possible in the future, including perfusion decellularization for kidney bioengineering or the administration of anti-rejection or genome-editing drugs in high doses to prime the kidney for transplantation. During the time of the perfusion, the kidney can be manipulated, renal function can be assessed, and various pharmaceuticals administered...

With the aim of controlling disease relapse and bone deformation of individual joints, the application of gene therapy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has slowly progressed on a trial-and-error basis. Several new therapeutic targets have been identified in preclinical studies in animal models, although a limited number of gene-based clinical trials have been conducted. In this article, we summarize the status of gene therapy for RA by addressing issues related to innovating drug development. More disease- and target-specific preclinical tests are required to overcome the insufficient information regarding pharmacokinetics and toxicokinetics, which are related to safety issues in the field of RA gene therapy...

Microparticles are polymeric bodies ranging 1-1000 µm that constitute a variety of forms such as microcapsules, microspheres, microcages, microshells, microrods, biosensors microparticles, radiolabeled microparticles, and so forth. This review focuses on general microparticles, mainly microcapsules and microspheres. Nonsteriodal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are one of the mostcommonly prescribed medications in the world. Most of the NSAIDs available have severe side effects. With increased awareness of NSAID-induced gastrointestinal (GI) side effects, safety has become a priority in treatment of arthritis and other inflammatory diseases with NSAIDs...

Depression is a devastating disorder which has a high impact on the wellbeing of overall society. As such, need for innovative therapeutic agents are always there. Most of the researchers focused on N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor to explore the antidepressant like activity of new therapeutic agents. Dextromethorphan is a cough suppressant agent with potential antidepressant activity reported in mouse force swimming test. Considering N-methyl-d-aspartate as a forefront in exploring antidepressant agents, here we focused to unpin the antidepressant mechanism of dextromethorphan targeting N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor induced nitric oxide-cyclic guanosine monophosphate signaling...

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) can differentiate into virtually any cell type in the body, making them attractive for both regenerative medicine and drug discovery. Over the past 10 years, technological advances and innovative platforms have yielded first-in-man PSC-based clinical trials and opened up new approaches for disease modeling and drug development. Induced PSCs have become the foremost alternative to embryonic stem cells and accelerated the development of disease-in-a-dish models. Over the years and with each new discovery, PSCs have proven to be extremely versatile...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is amending its nonprescription (over-the-counter or OTC) drug regulations. This final rule supplements the time and extent application (TEA) process for OTC drugs by establishing timelines and performance metrics for FDA's review of non-sunscreen TEAs, as required by the Sunscreen Innovation Act (SIA). It also amends the existing TEA process to include filing determination and withdrawal provisions to make the TEA process more efficient.

The first neutron scattering study on human nucleated cells is reported, addressing the subject of solvent-slaving to a drug by probing intracellular water upon drug exposure. Inelastic and quasi-elastic neutron scattering spectroscopy with isotope labelling was applied for monitoring interfacial water response to the anticancer drug cisplatin, in the low prognosis human metastatic breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231. Optical vibrational data were also obtained for lyophilised cells. Concentration-dependent dynamical changes evidencing a progressive mobility reduction were unveiled between untreated and cisplatin-exposed samples, concurrent with variations in the native organisation of water molecules within the intracellular medium as a consequence of drug action...

Of over 7,000 known rare diseases, only 5% currently have an available treatment option worldwide. Moreover, the vast majority of rare disease patients in China have no access to treatment due to limited availability and the lack of appropriate infrastructure in China's healthcare system. Despite increased interest in orphan drug development, drug companies in China with active programs on drugs to treat rare diseases are still limited. Hence, there is a huge unmet need in China, with over 10 million patients suffering from rare diseases...